Jughead vs Kamen Rider Kabuto
by OZ7UP
Summary: One Shot. Jughead has won a trip for two to Japan, and Betty's following him to get away from it all. Takes place after the events of "Kamen Rider Kabuto". Rated for very mild language. It helps if you know a bit about "Kamen Rider Kabuto".


_Disclaimer: I do not own Jughead and Betty (Wake up, ACP, those two are meant for each other!), and I do not own Kamen Rider Kabuto as well._

"ALRIGHT! WE'RE HERE IN JAPAN!"Forsythe "Jughead" Jones could not contain his excitement. A few months ago, he had entered a competition requiring him to write an essay on the influence of Japanese culture on American life, the grand prize being a pair of return tickets to Tokyo. Jughead, being smarter than what his lazy appearance shows, had proceeded to tear apart the competition with a fairly detailed analysis ranging from food to modern arts and animation. His friends were not surprised; Jughead was into food and Japanese animé and manga.

"Relax, Juggie. The country's still going to be around for a very long time," Betty, his best female companion, replied. "Besides, we've only just reached the hotel." Dragging her luggage over to her side of the hotel room, the blonde continued: "I'm still feeling a bit jetlagged, so you can go explore this part of town first. I'll just go take a short nap."

"A nap? It's only 9:30 in the morning right now!" Jughead exclaimed as he left the room. "Ah well, I'll let you know a few good restaurants around this place when you finally wake up."

* * *

Over on the other side of the city, however, a Japanese man was having his own problems, albeit a different one from having one's companion taking a morning nap while the said one is out exploring.

"_Damn! The Worms are back!_" Tendou Souji was not having a good day. A year after having defeated a highly dangerous extraterrestrial threat to humanity, his old foes, the human-mimicking Worms had started reappearing in various parts of Tokyo. "_I thought that ever since the Native Worms were defeated last year, the regular Worms would learn not to mess with u__s,_" he said to himself while attempting to fight off two such creatures. "_I really could use some backup right about now…_"

At that moment, a futuristic belt appeared around Tendou's waist. A split second later, a glowing orb appeared in mid-air and a small, red robotic rhinoceros beetle punched its way out. As the beetle started flying about the battle scene, injuring the Worms by grazing them with its horn, Tendou reached for his cell phone. Frustrated after failing to get through to his former comrade -in-arms, the Japanese man left a message.

"_Kagami__, it's me, __Tendou__ The Worms are back, and they are stronger than before. About as powerful as the albino one we fought a couple of years ago, and they have not even molted yet. __Kabuto's__ here, but I am going to need your help. See if you can summon __Gattack__ and get here as soon as it responds to you!_"

Putting away his phone, Tendou decided to take the battle to the next level. Raising his right arm, he summoned the robotic beetle away from the Worms into his hand."_I'd never thought I would see you again, __Kabuto__, but the Worms are back, and I had sworn to destroy all hostile Worms out there. __HENSHIN!_"

Lowering his arm, Tendou docked the beetle onto the interface panel on the front of the belt, causing the beetle to start flashing before stating in a robotic drone "HENSHIN!" The belt started generating pulse waves, covering the Japanese man in a bulky beetle-themed armor."_I feel alive again. __Time to settle this once and for all._" The armored warrior flipped up the horn of the beetle and brought it around to the rear of its body. "CAST OFF." One repeat of the command from the beetle later, the armor started to open up the bulky portions of its structure before explosively detaching it, leaving behind a more stream-lined armor that highly resembled a rhinoceros beetle."_All ready. Let's dance, bitches!_"

* * *

"Good to see you up and about, Betty," Jughead called out to his blonde companion as he approached her outside the hotel. "Ready to explore Tokyo?"

"You bet, Juggie," Betty replied excitedly. "And I can't thank you enough for inviting me to follow you. If I'd stayed back at Riverdale for the summer break, I'd have to put up with Reggie constantly trying to hit on me AND Ronnie beating me to Archie almost every day…"

The last comment unnerved Jughead a bit, and he was about to respond when a small explosion rocked the surrounding area, knocking the two teens down. "That wasn't good," Jughead replied. "I really hope it's not an earthquake."

"Er… Juggie? You might want to take a look at this," Betty moaned as she picked herself up from the ground. "I can see one guy in a red insect armor fighting off two alien insect creatures, and that guy is losing quite fast!" "So much for exploring, we need to get out of here!" Jughead cried out. He reached out to grab Betty's hand, but another explosion threw the two teens in separate directions.

* * *

_It's official. My day has been downgraded from bad to worse. __Kagami__ has not showed up yet, and I'm getting my ass thrown all over the place!_ Tendou thought to himself as he attempted to fend off the Worms. _Sure, these Worms definitely cannot molt, but they're faster and stronger than most molten ones that I've beaten!_ Another attempted strike was blocked. _And they can negate __Kabuto's__ Clock Up function too! What gives?_

All attempts to answer his own question failed as Tendou was violently knocked back by the lead Worm's vicious backhand, causing Kabuto to disengage, leaving the Japanese man completely unarmored. As Tendou picked himself off the ground, he saw, to his horror, that both Worms had started towards a blonde teen, who was trying to edge herself away from the battle. _I can't let them get to her_, he thought. _If one of them impersonates her and then __return__ to her home country, the world's open to being taken over by Worms from inside humanity! What can I do?_

"GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU FREAKS!"Tendou was stunned speechless as he saw the blonde's companion fly out from nowhere to tackle one of the Worms. _That Gaijin… Perhaps he could help get rid of the Worms. However, I've injured my leg when I landed, and the kid's defenseless, unless…_

The Japanese man was shocked into further silence as a weight around his waist disappeared.

* * *

"Alright, you freaks, stay the hell away from Betty!" Jughead roared. "I'm sick and tired of her constantly getting pushed around by her friends back in Riverdale, and she doesn't deserve to be feasted on during the one time she can get away from it all!" Adopting a karate-style stance, the teen continued: "Who wants to be fish bait?!"

"Juggie…" Betty was at loss for words. She had no idea that Riverdale's resident woman-hater had felt strongly about her, but his actions over the past minute had definitely cemented that. Not even Archie would risk his own safety to ensure hers. "Be careful…" She whispered to herself, wincing as Jughead was thrown back roughly.

As the Worms approached the fallen Jughead, an orb of light flashed into existence, launching out Kabuto directly through one of the aliens, causing it to explode while knocking the other back. As it hovered in front of the awakening teen, Tendou shouted out.

"GAIJIN! YOU NEED TO USE THAT BEETLE TO BECOME KAMEN RIDER KABUTO! A BELT HAS FLASHED INTO EXISTENCE AROUND YOUR WAIST – CONNECT THE BEETLE AND SHOUT OUT 'TRANSFORM'! THE BEETLE'S COMPUTER WILL TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING ELSE!"

Grabbing hold of Kabuto, Jughead picked himself off the ground. With a determined look on his face, he held the robotic beetle out and slid it into place on the belt."Here goes! TRANSFORM!"

"HENSHIN!" Jughead could not believe himself as the belt flared into life and covered him in armor. "So, that Japanese man told me to rely on the computers, eh? Computer, what's my course of action?" The teen asked as he started trading blows with the surviving Worm. "Cast Off? Ah, like molting the exoskeleton of an insect. I'm digging that! What's the procedure? That simple? Right…"Successfully knocking back the Worm, Jughead flipped Kabuto's horn over to the other side of its body unit. "CAST OFF!"

"CAST OFF!" As the outer bulky armor flew off, Jughead placed his left hand over the left side of the belt and slapped a panel."CLOCK UP!" With these words, Jughead felt that time around him had slowed down to almost a halt. Without wasting any time, he keyed in the sequence for activating the armor's finishing attack."ONE. TWO. THREE. RIDER KICK!" Upon successfully charging the attack, Jughead started kicking the pieces of his bulky outer armor right at the seemingly frozen Worm. The armored teen was promptly rewarded with a huge explosion.

"CLOCK OVER!"

* * *

Tendou was amazed as he saw the teen promptly wipe out the Worm. Watching Kabuto disengage and fly off back towards his direction, the Japanese man made the decision to leave the area as soon as possible and get back into contact with Kagami. Out of the many things he was thinking of at that moment, the only question of Tendou's mind, however, was whether his former comrade-in-arms was still alive or not. Using Kabuto to summon the armor, Tendou snuck away from the battle scene as quickly as his injured leg could get him.

* * *

"Betty, you alright…" Jughead was cut off as the blonde flew into his arms and started kissing him with a passion, which he gladly reciprocated. Breaking off the kiss to breathe, Jughead asked: "What was that for?"

"You've always been there for me, Juggie," Betty started. "When I would have problems, whether if it's about Archie and Ronnie, or just general things, you've always been there to listen to me. Seeing you attempting to take down that creature without any help cemented that thought in my mind, and that's something Archie would never do. I'd like to go out with you, but I understand if you say 'no' because you do have a repu…"

This time, Jughead initiated the kiss."Bets, I've always been crazy about you. I just didn't want to get in the way between you and Archie, but his treatment of you tells me that you deserve better than him." Looking down at Betty's blue eyes, Jughead went on. "I may not know much about dating, but I'd like to give this relationship a try. You're my best friend, Betty, and I'll always love you, no matter what."

"Love you too, Juggie…" The blonde started before being caught in another lip-lock.


End file.
